ÌF'ARA BÀ'LẸ̀ (Calmness) : Ifa Perspective

 

If'ara ba'le is a required accompaniment of suuru (patience) for a person to be an agba (an elder). Ifara ba'le is translated into English language as calmness. Being calm is an integral part of being matured. It indicates self-control as well as self-direction. With if'ara ba'le one is able to look at issues with an attitude which reduces the possibility of missing out or overlooking any piece of information regarding any situation.

The position of an elder in the community is one of leadership. It is not acquired for its own sake and therefore one must earn it. One of those qualifications is the demonstration of the acquisition of if'ara ba'le as a required virtue. If'ara ba'le is a learned virtue too; it requires that one applies the skill of self-control, focus and serenity in order to stay calm under difficult circumstances.

The good thing about calmness is that it is a subtle but very effective way to conserve energy and to increase one's efficiency and therefore efficacy in enterprises. Because you are calm, several things begin to fall into place.

These include the ability to see and perceive clearly, the ability to apply correctly the appropriate solution to the appropriate problem as well as the ability to take appropriate steps in the appropriate direction that one recognises by calmly looking at the situation.

The repercussions of not having if ara ba'le and suuru (patience) are exemplified in various verses of Ifa and in other examples in nature, which have been gleaned, for lessons in the development of character and ones personality. One of these examples is shown in the following saying:

 Adiẹ kò fara ba'lẹ

Asa gbe ọmọ rẹ jẹ

Agbọn ò fara balẹ

Kò s’oyin

Àdán ò fara balẹ

Ó dẹni Òkùnkùn

Aguntan fara balẹ

Ó gb’ọmọ rẹ̀ lọ́wọ́ ikú

Oyin fara balẹ

Aiyé rè l'ádùn

Ọ̀kín f'ara ba'lè

Ó d'ọba ẹiyẹ

Ọkà f'ara ba'lẹ̀

Ó la'mo beere

Ení bá f'ara rè ba'lẹ̀

Bó pẹ́, bó yá á rí ire gbà

 

Translation

The hen was not calm

And the hawk took its child (chick) for food

The wasp was not calm

And could not make honey

The bat was not calm

It became a creature of darkness

The sheep was calm

And saved it child from the hands of death

The honey bee became calm

And its life became sweet

Okin (a bird) was calm

And became the monarch (king) of birds

The maize (corn) calmed itself

And gave birth to countless children

The one who is calm

Will eventually reap goodness

 Just like in the stanzas of lfa the Yoruba, as in most other peoples of the world except the Caucasian, have mastered and harmonised with nature so much so that a sizeable proportion of their perceptions of life are culled from nature herself as a phenomenon. Hence the examples in this saying are all from nature. Again the recognition of Nature's temporal position vis a vis humans requires that humans respect the phenomena which nature has presented us with in order that we may have harmony and therefore mental health-fullness. There are many lessons relating to each of the statements and each expresses the requirement of calmness among other virtues.

The advantage of calmness is that it allows us to think and act appropriately and effectively in difficult or uncertain situations. Since our reactions to situations also have a significant role to play in the results we get, it is important that calmness remain a virtue and a watchword of our reactions. In the statements above, we see two categories based on application and none application of calmness; these are those who did not exhibit calmness and those who did. Each category obtained its esan (reward) for their behavior.

The application of calmness in listening to and following the instructions of Ifa is of paramount importance in the efficacy of Ifa's prescriptions for the supplicants. In ifa, it is required that one express appropriate calmness on obeying instructions and prescriptions.

 In Odu Òtúrá-Òtúrúpón (also called Otúrá-Tútù) (MNO) we find a stanza which exemplifies this and it goes thus:

 Epo ní kété

Àlà ní kété

D'ífá fún Ọbàtálá Ọ̀séré igbó

T'ó nti òde ìrànje (òrun)

Rèé gún'wà l'óde aiyé

Nwọ́n ní k'ó rú'bọ

Asọ funfun, Ìgbín àti ẹgbàwá owó ẹyo

Kò gbọdọ̀ mu ẹmu rárá o.

Ó gb'ébo ó rú'bo

Ṣùgbọ́n kò fara ba'lẹ̀

Kò si rú'bọ pé

Sugbon ó gb'ẹ́mu ó mu

Ó mu ẹmu tán

Epó bá dà s'aalaa (aso funfun) rẹ̀

N'ikẹhìn l'ó fìgbin rú'bọ  

L'ó bá kọ ẹmu si'lẹ̀

Ni'tori iti'jú rẹ̀

 Translation:

Palm oil stands alone (separately)

White cloth stands alone (separately)

Divined for Obatala, great one of the forest

Who was from heaven

Going to be enthroned in the world

They told him to sacrifice

White cloth, snail and twenty thousand cowries

He must not drink palm wine at all

He heard, took the sacrifice and complied

But he was not calm

So he did not sacrifice correctly

He put on (wore) the white cloth as instructed

But he took palm wine and drank

He finished the palm wine

Palm oil then splashed on his white cloth

He finally sacrificed the snail

And renounced palm wine completely

Because of his shame

 The first two lines warn us to be meticulous when we do things so that there may be no mix-ups which could have serious consequences, an example of which is shame. Obatala is one of the deities of the Yoruba Pantheon. He, Obatala according to the Yoruba mythology, was the one who moulded the human form in clay and presented it to OLODUMARE to be brought to life. OLODUMARE then gave the breath of life to that form and it lived.

All humans are given form and life this way. This is a clear indication that the Yoruba have known since time beyond history that all we see in the human as well as other things is not all there is. Obatala is known to wear white clothes so that his priests also wear white cloth and use white chalk and colour as their presenting ensign. For a great deity who was coming from heaven to the world to be enthroned, he, Obatala needed calmness as one of his main virtues according to the stanza in Otura-oturupon. He did not have it at first and certainly worsened his situation by getting drunk on palm wine.

Incidentally, palm wine is the only one of all wines in the world (literally) that comes naturally without any processing by anyone. It is very well balanced with natural ingredients which also make it quite a potent intoxicant for those who do not exhibit restraint and respect for its potency. After he got drunk he got careless, and palm oil (which comes from the same tree as palm wine), a red oil, splashed on his pristine white cloth with disastrous consequences for his appearance. This generated deep, shame in him a source of severe mental stress - upon which he renounced and rejected palm wine completely. If he, Obatala had calmly listened to and carried out the instructions he was given, he would not have had to deal with shame.

Moreover, his results would have been such that his self-image would have been elevated. This would have had the effect of improving and increasing his mental health fullness instead of the diminished mental health he experienced with deep shame. One other thing that resulted was the compulsive behavior of rejecting palm wine. One can see here that his mental state is only a short distance away from developing a phobia for palm wine.

Whether it is a simple or a complex phobia will be the problem that occupies the mind of the western style psychiatrist and not the fact that he has to take responsibility for his attitude and his actions.

aboru aboye

F.O.B